Topics may include theories, history, criticism, major figures, movements, visual or material rhetoric. Topics vary. See the Class Schedule.

This course provides an intensive survey of rhetoric as understood and practiced in ancient Greece and Rome, and serves as an introduction to graduate-level study of historical rhetoric more generally. The course attends to the development of the discipline of rhetoric in the Classical world and to the recurring themes that constitute "the rhetorical tradition." Class discussions and assignments assess the epistemological foundations, ethical status, and socio-political importance of ancient rhetorical training and discourse. Primary readings (in English) include works by sophists and orators of the Greek Classical period, Isocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, Quintilian, and others. Secondary readings and class discussion will consider political, cultural, and philosophical contexts for ancient rhetorical theory, oratorial practice, and the teaching of speech and writing. This course will prepare graduate students for preliminary exams, research, and pedagogical encounters in rhetoric.

This course is designed to acquaint graduate students with different traditions of rhetorical theory. It surveys a range of rhetorical tools/methods, and sets out to assist students to find a clear purpose for using rhetorical theory and to develop a structured approach to their objects of criticism. It prioritizes Black, Indigenous, transnational, and anti-racist approaches to rhetoric, and situates those as foundational to the traditions of such theoretical traditions as semiotics, deconstruction, genealogy, affect theory, assemblage theory, and psychoanalysis. It is intended to prepare students for comprehensive exams, conference presentations, and pedagogical encounters with rhetoric.